Can't change brightness on iBook G3 800 (32MB VRAM)

So I have an iBook 800mhz G3 (32MB VRAM) I got off a friend.

I reformatted it and installed 10.4 from scratch, ran all the updates, and it's now running 10.4.2. Everything works.. except I can't change the brightness of the LCD.

The keys to change it do nothing. Also, there's no brightness control in the control panel for the display. The brightness is at full, and energy saver dims and undims the screen appropriately. Just, the keys don't work to change it and there's no slider in the control panel.

The keys work fine if I set them to do exposé for example..
I've reset PRAM
I've reset the PMU..
I've done an openfirmware reset-nvram, set-defaults, reset-all

Now.. it only has a CD drive, and I have a family pack of licenses for 10.4, so I installed it in target disk mode using the OSInstall.mpkg. After the install it wouldn't let me unmount the device, but this is usual.. so I just yanked the fw cable, I know, bad, but I've done it 4 times before after installing, and had no problems, and since everything else seems to work, I'd rather work out why I can't change the brightness instead of having it blamed on this 😉

Posted on Aug 16, 2005 6:11 PM

22 replies

nenapdx

Level 1

0 points

Dec 23, 2005 8:56 AM in response to Ronda Wilson

I have the brightness control issue related to the Tiger upgrade. I've been working with an Applecare Level 2 representative. Apple has acknowledged that this is a known problem. Tiger wiped out this function on few iBooks, and the 10.4.3 fix was tailored to Powerbooks only. They tell me an enginner is working on the iBook issue, though they have no idea when or how it will be resolved. I am stuck with a very dim screen that is unusable in certain lighting situations. If I reset PRAM every time I boot the computer, the screen gets brighter. But I have no way of controling the the screen brightness itself. F1 and F2 keys don't work and there's no brightness control slider in the preference panel. Very frustrating and disappointing.

Dec 23, 2005 9:10 AM in response to nenapdx

Thanks for letting us know what you've found out. I guess that's one big reason to hold off on Tiger if you have a G3 iBook. Did they say specifically which models are affected?

Jan 7, 2006 8:48 AM in response to Ronda Wilson

Hello

I've had the same brightness control problem..no brightness controls. My screen had grown very dim. After being upset by the news that Apple knew about this and that they don't seem to have fix, I started trying evrything I've seen posted. Booting into 9.2.2 helped by situation. I set the brightness high there, rebooted into 10.4.3 and the screen has stayed bright so far. Still no controls though. I know it will be a drain on the battery but it's better than being stuck with an unreadably dim screen. I'll post something if there's any change. I hope it works for some of you.

Jan 7, 2006 11:31 AM in response to Alex Dawson

Hi,
I have the same problem with my iBook.
As workaround i use the freeware tool:
"Brightness Control". Now I can adjust the brightness with this little program.
T.

PowerBook G4 15 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Jan 8, 2006 3:11 AM in response to Torsten Voller

Brightness Control:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17670

nenapdx

Level 1

0 points

Jan 18, 2006 3:13 PM in response to arthuralex77

After sending a screen capture and a data capture to Applecare, which sent it on to an engineer, Apple decided my screen brightness control problem was a hardware problem. I sent in my machine and here's what they replaced:
590-5067 CABLE,ASSY,LVDS, 14.1
600-9020 TOP CASE ASSY
646-0135 DISPLAY, LCD 14.1 XGA (SAMSUNG), IBOOK

I've got my brightness control preference slider back and the F1 and F2 keys also are working.

Jan 19, 2006 2:39 AM in response to nenapdx

Wow. They did a lot of work there. I hope you had AppleCare.

Thanks for posting back with how your problem was resolved.

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Can't change brightness on iBook G3 800 (32MB VRAM)